Countries ranked by Women in the labor force (share of women)

The share of women aged 15 and over who are working or looking for work.

#1 Madagascar (82.9%), #2 Solomon Islands (82.3%), #3 Nigeria (80.7%). The last place is Yemen (4.7%).

How to read this number

The share of women aged 15 and older who are working or looking for work (labor force participation rate). Values are modeled estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

This is not only the share of women who have jobs; it also includes women who are looking for work.

  • Countries listed: 178 (of 193)
  • Data years: 2021–2025 (differs by country)
  • 174 countries use 2025 data

Map

Ranking table

Sorted from the highest value

RankCountryWomen in the labor force (share of women)YearBar
1 Madagascar 82.9% 2025
2 Solomon Islands 82.3% 2025
3 Nigeria 80.7% 2025
4 Tanzania 80.3% 2025
5 Burundi 79.5% 2025
6 North Korea 77.7% 2025
7 Cambodia 77.4% 2025
8 Mozambique 77.1% 2025
9 Uganda 75.6% 2025
10 Benin 75.2% 2025
11 Bolivia 72.9% 2025
12 Eritrea 72.8% 2025
13 Niger 72.8% 2025
14 Moldova 72.3% 2025
15 Angola 72.2% 2025
16 Liberia 72.0% 2025
17 Bahamas 70.7% 2025
18 South Sudan 70.4% 2023
19 Iceland 70.0% 2025
20 Vietnam 68.6% 2025
21 New Zealand 66.1% 2025
22 Republic of the Congo 65.6% 2025
23 Central African Republic 65.5% 2025
24 Peru 65.0% 2025
25 Burkina Faso 64.1% 2025
26 Botswana 63.7% 2025
27 Singapore 63.6% 2025
28 Kenya 63.0% 2025
29 Jamaica 63.0% 2025
30 Netherlands 62.7% 2025
31 Kazakhstan 62.6% 2025
32 Australia 62.5% 2025
33 Israel 62.3% 2025
34 Switzerland 62.2% 2025
35 Zimbabwe 62.2% 2025
36 Norway 62.1% 2025
37 St. Lucia 62.0% 2025
38 Qatar 61.9% 2025
39 Democratic Republic of the Congo 61.8% 2025
40 Timor-Leste 61.7% 2025
41 Laos 61.6% 2025
42 Sweden 61.5% 2025
43 Cyprus 61.2% 2025
44 Barbados 61.0% 2025
45 Estonia 61.0% 2025
46 Denmark 60.8% 2025
47 Azerbaijan 60.8% 2025
48 Guinea-Bissau 60.3% 2025
49 Canada 60.2% 2025
50 Ireland 59.8% 2025
51 Côte d’Ivoire 59.5% 2025
52 St. Vincent & Grenadines 59.2% 2025
53 China 59.1% 2025
54 Paraguay 59.0% 2025
55 Thailand 59.0% 2025
56 Albania 58.6% 2025
57 Ethiopia 58.5% 2025
58 Haiti 58.3% 2025
59 Malawi 58.2% 2025
60 Lithuania 57.7% 2025
61 Luxembourg 57.5% 2025
62 United Kingdom 57.3% 2025
63 Rwanda 57.3% 2025
64 Uruguay 57.3% 2025
65 South Korea 56.8% 2025
66 Belarus 56.8% 2025
67 Bhutan 56.7% 2025
68 Georgia 56.7% 2025
69 Togo 56.6% 2025
70 Cameroon 56.6% 2025
71 Finland 56.5% 2025
72 Zambia 56.4% 2025
73 United States 56.3% 2025
74 Japan 55.9% 2025
75 Malta 55.8% 2025
76 Germany 55.3% 2025
77 Ghana 55.3% 2025
78 Latvia 55.2% 2025
79 Slovakia 55.1% 2025
80 Austria 55.1% 2025
81 Panama 54.9% 2025
82 Namibia 54.9% 2025
83 Portugal 54.6% 2025
84 Russia 54.5% 2025
85 Brunei 54.4% 2025
86 Hungary 54.3% 2025
87 Indonesia 53.7% 2025
88 Dominican Republic 53.7% 2025
89 Czechia 53.5% 2025
90 Brazil 53.4% 2025
91 Vanuatu 53.3% 2025
92 United Arab Emirates 53.0% 2025
93 Chile 52.9% 2025
94 Mali 52.8% 2025
95 Spain 52.8% 2025
96 Serbia 52.6% 2025
97 Equatorial Guinea 52.6% 2025
98 Argentina 52.5% 2025
99 Ecuador 52.4% 2025
100 Slovenia 52.3% 2025
101 Malaysia 51.6% 2025
102 Colombia 51.6% 2025
103 Poland 51.6% 2025
104 Sierra Leone 51.6% 2025
105 France 51.5% 2025
106 Mongolia 51.5% 2025
107 Nicaragua 51.3% 2025
108 Montenegro 51.2% 2025
109 Armenia 51.1% 2025
110 Papua New Guinea 50.8% 2025
111 Philippines 50.5% 2025
112 Cape Verde 50.5% 2025
113 Bulgaria 50.4% 2025
114 South Africa 49.9% 2025
115 Belgium 49.8% 2025
116 El Salvador 49.1% 2025
117 Eswatini 48.5% 2025
118 Lesotho 48.1% 2025
119 Trinidad & Tobago 47.8% 2025
120 Ukraine 47.7% 2021
121 Comoros 47.6% 2025
122 Mauritius 47.5% 2025
123 Mexico 47.5% 2025
124 Croatia 47.4% 2025
125 Guyana 47.4% 2025
126 Chad 47.3% 2025
127 Kuwait 47.2% 2025
128 Belize 46.5% 2025
129 Costa Rica 46.0% 2025
130 Gambia 45.5% 2025
131 Suriname 44.9% 2025
132 Greece 44.7% 2025
133 Kyrgyzstan 44.1% 2025
134 North Macedonia 42.7% 2025
135 Guinea 42.6% 2025
136 Tonga 42.3% 2025
137 Bahrain 42.3% 2025
138 Romania 41.8% 2025
139 Gabon 41.6% 2025
140 Uzbekistan 41.2% 2025
141 Myanmar 40.9% 2025
142 Italy 40.8% 2025
143 Maldives 40.7% 2025
144 Cuba 40.0% 2025
145 Honduras 39.6% 2025
146 Bosnia & Herzegovina 39.2% 2025
147 Bangladesh 38.6% 2025
148 Fiji 38.5% 2025
149 Guatemala 38.3% 2025
150 Turkmenistan 38.2% 2025
151 Senegal 38.2% 2025
152 Türkiye 37.1% 2025
153 Venezuela 37.1% 2025
154 Saudi Arabia 33.6% 2025
155 Libya 33.0% 2025
156 India 32.4% 2025
157 Sri Lanka 31.0% 2025
158 Samoa 30.7% 2025
159 Oman 30.0% 2025
160 Nepal 27.5% 2025
161 Tunisia 26.5% 2025
162 Mauritania 26.2% 2025
163 Pakistan 24.0% 2025
164 São Tomé & Príncipe 22.7% 2025
165 Lebanon 22.2% 2023
166 Tajikistan 21.9% 2025
167 Somalia 20.7% 2025
168 Morocco 19.7% 2025
169 Djibouti 19.4% 2025
170 Egypt 18.5% 2025
171 Jordan 16.0% 2025
172 Sudan 14.5% 2022
173 Algeria 14.1% 2025
174 Iran 14.0% 2025
175 Syria 12.7% 2025
176 Iraq 10.9% 2025
177 Afghanistan 5.1% 2025
178 Yemen 4.7% 2025

Each value is the latest year available for that country (see the Year column), so the years can differ from country to country.

Data is available for 178 of 193 countries. The rest are not listed.

Source: Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate), indicator SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS. Processed by this site. data.worldbank.org

How it has changed (1990–2025)

See how women in the labor force (share of women) has changed across the world’s countries from 1990 to 2025.

  • The country ranked first changed over time: Burundi in 1990–1995, Mozambique in 1996–2004, Tanzania in 2005–2009, Madagascar in 2010–2025.
  • Japan’s women in the labor force (share of women) went from 50.1% in 1990 to 55.9% in 2025 (up 5.8 points).
  • Japan ranked #82 of 178 countries in 1990 and #73 of 174 in 2025. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.
Women in the labor force (share of women): Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom of the 2025 rankingFrom 1990 to 2025. Last values: Madagascar 82.9%, Estonia 61.0%, Japan 55.9%, Czechia 53.5%, Kyrgyzstan 44.1%, Yemen 4.7%.0501001990200020102025MadagascarMadagascarEstoniaEstoniaJapanJapanCzechiaCzechiaKyrgyzstanKyrgyzstanYemenYemen
Key years for Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom of the 2025 ranking
Country19902000201020202025
Madagascar83.9%83.9%83.9%82.2%82.9%
Estonia59.7%52.6%55.1%57.1%61.0%
Japan50.1%49.2%48.3%53.1%55.9%
Czechia52.7%51.6%49.2%51.5%53.5%
Kyrgyzstan47.9%57.9%51.4%43.9%44.1%
Yemen16.1%20.2%10.0%4.9%4.7%
Countries with data178178178178174

See the full history, year by year

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